Back on Track, Calvin Kattar Out to Prove He’s Among the Best Featherweights in the World

Looking back on his first-round TKO victory over Chris Fishgold at UFC Fight Night 138 on Oct. 27, featherweight Calvin Kattar feels while his performance wasn’t perfect, he was still pleased with the outcome of the fight.

Kattar feels that the match played out about how he and his team anticipated. Once he weathered Fishgold’s initial storm, he was able to take control of the fight and get the finish.

“I made a couple mistakes definitely, but overall I’m happy with the win,” Kattar told MMAWeekly.com. “(Fishgold) fought similar to how we thought. We’re happy with this win.

“It’s tough to relax when he does what we planned, which is try to put a beating on, so it’s tough to relax in the middle of that. At that time towards the tail end of the first round, that’s when I start getting into my rhythms a little bit and getting more comfortable.”

Coming off his first loss in the UFC to Renato Carneiro in April, Kattar knew he had to make some adjustments to get back on track, but a wholesale change of how he does things was not needed to rebound.

“I’m not reinventing myself by any means,” said Kattar. “Sometimes it doesn’t come out exactly as planned as far as how you react or shots coming off and how the fight plays out, and in those instances you’ve got to be able to mix it up in real time – that’s what the best do, they adjust in real time.

“You can have all the game plans in the world, but if it doesn’t start going off the way you planned, you’ve got to be able to adjust, and we’re working that in every fight.”

Having gotten back on the winning track, Kattar is now looking to help out his teammates and then get ready to make a push up the UFC’s featherweight ranks in 2019.

“Rob Font, my number one training partner and who helped me for (the Fishgold) fight, he’s fighting Sergio Pettis on Dec. 15, so I plan to reciprocate that and make sure I’m at the gym as well and help him get ready as well,” said Kattar.

“The goal is to get into the Top 15 and show why I belong at the top of the division. The loss to Renato, I felt like he got off easy with me and that’s my fault. I’m going to go back and continue to show why I belong with the best at the division and at the top.”